The news just keeps getting worse for Yakuza fans. Fresh off the heels of the confirmation from Toshihiro Nagoshi himself that Yakuza 5 likely won’t be coming west, our friends over at Yakuza Fan revealed today that Sega has taken down every non-Japanese Yakuza related site on their servers, except for the series’ official forums, and a minisite for Yakuza; Dead Souls. Trying to visit any other Yakuza related webpage is met with a 404 error.
While the optimistic want to believe that this might just mean a simple retooling for all the Yakuza pages, the more likely scenario is Sega trying to make fans forget the series was ever a thing in the west. Sega has not commented either way, and likely won’t.
The way I see it, this is the true final dagger in the heart for Yakuza in the west. Sega seems to be trying to use the same “phasing out” tactics they used for damage control on the Sonic series, erasing everything basically, on a series that really doesn’t deserve such treatment. I honestly could not be more disappointed right now.
What are your thoughts on this? Tell us in the comments, or on our forums.
Source; Yakuza Fan
premature thinking. Nagoshi did not say that yakuza 5 will never be released. Try to stay positive.
Sega hates us
Downer tiiiiime!
Sega is dead.
They died in 2001 with the Dreamcast.
The Sega I loved was an innovative company that put the game experience first. They were primarily felled by several poorly executed consoles eroding their reputation at the worst possible time (a strong new contender launching a system.)
That company died, and in its place a new company emerged that put fiscal concerns in the forefront, and let most of it’s expensive talent depart. Innovative games were always Sega’s STRENGTH, but this new company treated them as it’s weakness.
They floated for a long time, and to a extent continue to, by rehashing old games from our beloved company. There have been good games mixed in, but even Activision had good games sprinkled in amongst its library. And now, just to be safe, even those good games are getting taken from us. What are we left with? Sonic, Football Manager, Total War, and a few other games.
Never mind that they use the promotional budget equivalent of the 99 cent menu at McDonalds.
Never mind that they have a rapport with their fans on par with a parolee & parole officer. “We’ll tell YOU when to be there, you just show up and stop asking questions.”
No, it’s us. We westerners just don’t want these games.
They have the same IP’s, they have the same name, but they are not Sega.
I suppose you could say I’m a Legacy Sega Addict, rather than a Sega Addict. I worry for all you Atlus Addicts…they remind me a lot of my lovely old Sega.
*dramatic bow*